Month: June 2006

— 101 two liter bottles of Diet Coke

— 523 Mentos

A thing to behold.

This Just In…

JAKARTA – The Indonesian defense minister warned the Bush administration on Tuesday that its approach to fighting terrorism was alienating Muslims and that it needed to be more sensitive to local governments.

Sensitive.

We’re supposed to fight terrorism by being sensitive.

Oh, hang on…

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Puhleeze.

The WaPo slaps around Senator Harry Reid for the ludicrous statements he made regarding his ring side seat at a boxing match in Nevada.

Encore! Encore!

If Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney runs for President in 2008, he won’t be talking about his faith.

Romney says he would be willing to talk about his Mormon religion in broad terms should he run for president but would shy away from debating specific beliefs.

“I think initially some people would say, ‘Gosh, I don’t know much about your faith. Tell me about it.’ And I’d probably outline the fundamentals: I’m a religious person, I believe that Jesus Christ is my savior,” Romney said during an appearance on PBS’s “The Charlie Rose Show.” “But then as you get into the details of doctrines, I’d probably say, ‘Look, time out.'”

So, for the record, we won’t be hearing from Mitt about…

— Gold Plates

— The Garden of Eden, aka Jackson County Missouri

— 6 foot moon men that look like Quakers

I’m glad we’re clear on that.

It’s already June 6, 2006 here in Japan, and so far, it’s a completely normal day. No apocalypse. No pitch forks. If this status changes, I’ll let you know.

If the Iranian football (or soccer for us Americans) team does well in the World Cup, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend the competition in Germany.

Do we have the coordinates yet for the location of his seat?

It’s red meat delivered up in an election year when the presidents poll numbers are in the basement and the popularity of Congress is at an all time low.

Yawn…weren’t we talking about immigration reform?

Sister Toldjah has more. Joe Gandelman rounds up the rest.

Sendai, Miyagi
Japan

Well, not exactly out my window, but close to my hotel anyway. You can see this thing for miles. So, you’re asking, what the heck is it?

According to Wikipedia…

The Sendai Daikannon is an approximately 100 meter high Kannon statue. The statue was built during Japan’s bubble economy by a now defunct company. Although it is possible to enjoy a panoramic view from the statue, it is disliked by many locals, partially because it looks rather out of place in the middle of a residential district, and partially because most people see the statue as a symbol of greed, not faith.

I think my grandmother had a salt and pepper shaker set that kind of looked like this guy.

If anyone in Canada doubted the threat of a terrorist strike in that country, today they doubt no more.

Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al-Qaida, who obtained three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday.

The FBI said the Canadian suspects may have had “limited contact” with two men recently arrested on terrorism charges in Georgia. About 400 regional police and federal agents participated in the arrests Friday and early Saturday.

“These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. “As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism.”

Is there any place in the world that is immune to terrorism today? I happen to think there isn’t, and that’s why U.S. efforts around the world to squash al-Qaida groups and their imitators is so important. The more effort we put into combating terrorism, the more work other countries will do.

MORE: Internet monitoring helped bust the terrorists.

This blog has been pretty sorry lately. It’s really a combination of a couple of things. I’m getting burned out on politics of late. The incessant echo chamber, the political correctness, the shrieking, and the petty arguments are getting seriously old. Oh, and I’m getting ready to leave the country on a business trip tomorrow (Tokyo, Japan). That’s taking a lot of my attention.

And so it goes.

I’ll be in a car, in an airport, or in a plane ALL DAY tomorrow. I won’t be reconnected until early Saturday morning. If the world comes to an end in the next 36 hours, it’s safe to say I won’t be live blogging it. Someone else will.

Be well.

UPDATE: I’ve arrived. If you’re a seasoned traveler like I am, you’ll appreciate this. I flew to Tokyo on a 747–400 class plane with capacity for over 400 people. There were only about 50 booked passengers. The flight was the first of its kind on the carriers schedule, and had only been promoted for about a week and a half. Most people make international travel reservations way in advance, so those who booked when I did found the flight. In these days of cattle car air travel, the emptiness in that plane was sheer paradise.

I doubt I’ll ever be that lucky again.